COCAINE DEALER SENTENCED TO 8 1/2 YEARS

A high-level Calgary drug dealer has landed in prison after pleading guilty
Friday to conspiracy to traffic an estimated $1 million to $3 million in
cocaine.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Sandy Park handed Tuyen Minh Dang an
81/2-year federal prison sentence after accepting a joint submission by
Crown prosecutor Karen Molle and defence lawyer Tim Foster.

"This gentleman, Mr. Dang, is a highly sophisticated commercial drug
trafficker," said Park.

"This is an extremely serious offence, because of the planning and
deliberation and scheme over an extended period of time. Mr. Dang is
heavily involved, without regard for the misery and suffering of drug addicts."

The judge also noted the offender was involved in the manufacturing of
crack cocaine, a highly addictive form of the drug, at his home on Ulster
Rd. N.W.

Park credited Dang, 25, with double time for the six months he had spent in
pre-trial custody, bringing his time remaining down to 71/2 years, and
noted the guilty plea saved the courts a great deal of time and money.

The sentence is similar to the eight years Park gave Minh Le, another
top-level trafficker, who pleaded guilty to the same charge last August.

"Le and Dang are at the upper echelon of drug traffic dealers in Calgary,"
Molle told the judge.

"As far as Calgary police are concerned, this is at the top level they have
ever dealt with."

The court also confiscated more than $47,000 cash and a 1991 Acura NSX
seized as proceeds of crime from Dang's home.

He was arrested on May 22, following an exhaustive eight-month joint
investigation between Calgary RCMP, Calgary police and the Organized Crime
Agency of British Columbia.

The investigation revealed he had received 33 deliveries of a minimum one
kilogram of cocaine each from two Vancouver men between Sept. 21 and May
22. Some deliveries included as much as three kilograms.

Dang paid between $36,500 and $40,000 per kilogram, then sold it to others
who peddled it at the street level for $1,000 to $1,350 per ounce.

Foster said his client is "like a wholesaler" and admitted he would have
netted a minimum $200,000 profit from the amount he purchased during the
investigation period.

Dang is a native of Vietnam who came to Canada in 1991 and is a landed
immigrant.

He has a previous conviction for drug trafficking in 1997, for which he
received a sentence of two years less a day.